Wicken Fen

We went to Wicken today mainly to find out about parking etc at Burwell Fen for the RPS visit on Sunday. The answer is that it is inadvisable to try and park at Cock-Up Bridge with the building works and the back route to the other side of the Fen has some very bad potholes. The day's tally was three Cranes flying near the Fen, fields full of Fieldfares and several Kestrels. Hen Harriers were active earlier so we will meet at 8.30 am on Sunday and stay on Wicken Fen all day

Daffodils in January

The daffodils obviously aren't aware that  St David's Day is still a couple of months off as they are in full bloom in Toft churchyard! After a wet morning the skies cleared to give some clear late afternoon sun. Lots of puddles for reflections.

Spring A Couple of Months Early

I wanted to test out my new extension ring for the Fuji and was amazed to find the male  hazel catkins and the small red female flowers are already fully out in our wood in Toft. It will be interesting to see how this affects nut production later in the year. The 4th image is a focus stack from 12 handheld images with single shots either side.

Misty Morning in Toft

I have been busy catching up on emails etc after a trip away followed by 5 days looking after the grandchildren. However, this morning's mist was too good to miss so had a quick walk around the fields to photograph my old friends!.

Our New Year Charges

While their Mum and Dad spend a few days in Iceland, the girls have decided to be Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph.

Cologne and Home

We had about an hour to look round the Cathedral and Bridge areas of Cologne having passed through Frankfurt and then along the Rhine. Image 2 shows view from our hotel in Nurembourg - quite an interesting view.  The penultimate image is of  the train toilet - 'La Joconde, Musee du Loo-vre' and finally us on the battlements in Nurembourg to prove we were there.!!.

Afternoon in Nuremberg

We arrived early afternoon in Nuremberg and walked into town to sample this Medieval City. It has many bridges and squares and some of these still had Christmas Markets. The modern sculpture, Ship of Fools, by Jurgen Weber in 1987 appealed to me for its inscription making an appeal against environmental destruction, war and violence. The sculpture is based on Albrecht Dürer's woodcut illustrating the 1497 edition of Das Narrenschiff by Sebastian Brant. It depicts a boat - a nutshell with two fools masks at front and rear - as a metaphor for the threatened world. After visiting a couple of churches we walked up to the Castle and took in the view over the city including the semicircular Congress Hall - never fully completed as part of the Nazi Rally Ground area -now a museum.

Vienna Day Part 3

This last post from Vienna shows images from around the Hofberg Palace and St Stephans Square as night comes and with it fog. My favourite was the first image taken of a lady who had lost her dog (we eventually found it) taken with a 12mm Samyang Fisheye which is sharp centrally but falls off a bit at the edges giving a great effect for night photography. I loved the way in images 6 and 7 the colour palette matches so well - everyone in red or yellow - no green or blue to spoil the harmony. Next stop Nurembourg for one night then a short break midjourney in Cologne and home.